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Reverberation's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Most Compelling Narrative | #2 | 3.800 | 3.800 |
| Best Use of the (optional) Theme | #2 | 3.600 | 3.600 |
| Best Use of Ludonarrative | #3 | 3.800 | 3.800 |
| Most Compelling Character | #3 | 4.400 | 4.400 |
| Overall | #3 | 3.900 | 3.900 |
Ranked from 5 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
I like how, when text is restricted, you turned to audio as the primary story-telling medium. I think other projects in the jam also utilized sound but not as the core of their story. Overall very nicely done, especially the reveal at the end. Although I didn't get it the first playthrough, the change in tone was well executed enough to convinced me to give the game another go, this time with headphones so I could catch the last part.
I know that the visual style isn't consistent, but there's charm to it. It reminds me of rpg maker games I've played back in the day. And the sprites for Scarlett are all so cute. The first part of my first playthrough was entirely about getting Scarlett to show her happy face, although I'm pretty sure now that it's outside my control.
This one threw me off a bit at first, but after a quick second playthrough where I turned the volume up towards the end, it became much clearer to me. After that, along with reading what others have said, I gotta say, if I have this right, I love the story being told here and how... ironically it's being told.
The impression I get from this is that Scarlett has issues with hearing... the right things. The end implies that she has trouble hearing, while the dog scene indicates that she does still hear - maybe a bit too much. The fact that this is evoked through scenes where audio is incredibly quiet and where audio is much more noticeable, respectively, is honestly quite interesting.
Seeing that the thing that brings Scarlett back down to Earth is music is a charming little way to cap it off, and a nice, cheeky way to show your appreciation for Rinzai's lovely work on the music. :P
Maybe I'm just biased since I also have difficulties with my ears deciding to either hear the things I don't actually want to hear in the moment or make it harder to hear & understand the things I'm trying to actually listen to, but I like the story here. It's admittedly not the most efficiently told story out there - I didn't really understand what was happening in that ending on my first run through - but I think this has a fair bit of charm. Neat work, overall!
Now that I've finished it, I can say this had a great reveal! It recontextualizes the whole game and even the title screen. It's a well-conveyed, lovely story too. I really like the new addition you've made too - where while Scarlett's chasing the dog the music gets quieter and the city noises get louder. I'm pretty sure it's new, anyway.
There are still a few bugs. I can still make Scarlett walk under the tall plant I mentioned before. And you might want to check the lampposts/objects outside, I could walk under several. Also Scarlett briefly disappears the last time you interact with the dog before her sensory overload. I think that happened the first time too, but I forgot about it. But those are smaller bugs that you'll probably work on later.
Nice work!
Scarlett is Best Girl. Sailor who?
Real cute! Unfortunately I'm stuck at the part where the dog is looking at the hole in the brick wall, Scarlett freezes when I interact with the dog at that point. The mysterious dog leading you away from your ordinary world is great though, classic narrative device. It would also be cool to see more evidence of some need or desire that Scarlett has, like maybe she's in a monotonous routine and keeps seeing other people doing exciting things? Or a scene at the start where where she sees the dog but can't follow him because she has other responsibilities to attend to (refusal of the call).
What was your thought process behind the dog making Scarlett cry? I took it as Scarlett wanting to befriend the dog, and the dog rejecting her. I guess that means the dog isn't intentionally leading you somewhere?
I need to see what's in that dang building though!! XD
Ha-hey, no need to worry; I'm like 90% sure I busted the bug that freezes her completely at that part, so you should be able to go through the whole thing now!
The thing about her crying isn't her being upset that the dog wants to reject her constantly, actually; frustration and panic built up until she ended up having an auditory sensory overload, essentially.
Her response to the dog is making a lot more sense now having seen the ending, I really like it in retrospect! It depends how committed you are to naturalism, but it would be cool if you found a way to depict her sensory overload in such a way that the player is also experiencing what she's experiencing. Like a bright flash and a tinnitus noise or something?
I think you were successful with the anagnorisis, though I reckon the scene structure could be even more developed in your next version. Good job!
I, for one, love it when media does stuff like that. Of course, it would have to be executed at least a little carefully so that it's not too overwhelming.
So, I couldn't leave the house because an invisible wall kept stopping me from getting Scarlett's breakfast ^.^; (I'm assuming it's in the brown paper bag? It could be the chopped food as well, but I couldn't get to that either). I haven't rated the game - I want to complete the whole thing first :) I'm sure updating it should be fine if it's to fix a game-breaking bug.
Speaking of invisible walls, I noticed quite a lot of them in this first part. Though maybe that's to clearly show where you're not supposed to go. Though I could walk on the fridge and table. (I may have made Scarlett dance on top of the latter.)
I like Scarlett, though. She's cute.
So apparently you're supposed to cook breakfast on the stove first... ;;;>.> It was like 6am when I played this, don't judge me.
Anyway, I still found a few places where you could walk where you weren't supposed to. For example, you can walk over the left wall in Scarlett's room and end up in the other one, and you can walk on some things in there as well (like the bed, which I danced on). You can also walk on the fire extinguisher in the hall ouside Scarlett's apartment, under the tall leafy plant at the top right in the flower shop, and on top of the flower shop's front counter if you come in from behind it (yup, danced on that too). Those are the ones I remember off the top of my head.
I also noticed that expressions seem to remain even after you've moved on to different interactions (like how seeing the food stand in the beginning made Scarlett sad, but she still had the crying face on when I had her greet customers at the store).
And I also got stuck at the exact some point as Toaster Strooder. When both Scarlet and the dog are next to the big hole the game freezes and I can't continue.
So far though, I like what you've done with this. I think Scarlett's text box is a really nice detail. Another small detail I liked was how the guy at the food stand also reacted to the barking. I really want to know what's in that bag. I wasn't quite sure what it was that distressed Scarlett. Was it it the barking noise? The stress and frustration of having to chase it? The apparent rejection? It made me wonder, in a good way. And I like how it came right before an important reveal.